Common Admission Test (CAT)

CAT or Common Admission Test, the most popular national level management entrance exam conducted by Indian Institute of Management for admission to 20 IIMs and more than 100 B-schools across India. Around 2.5 lakh MBA aspirants appear for the test every year. CAT 2018 was a 3-hour computer-based test consisting of 100 Multiple Choice Question (MCQ) and Non-MCQ type questions. There were three timed sections, namely Quantitative Ability (QA), Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC) and Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR). CAT 2018 was held on November 25 in two slots - Forenoon (9 AM to 12 PM) and Afternoon (2:30 PM to 5:30 PM).

The result of CAT 2018 has been declared on January 5, 2019, and the selection procedure initiates with the release of CAT cutoff. Each of the participating institutes of CAT 2018 will execute their individual admission process, however, the shortlisting would be done based on CAT 2018 cutoff. Next, the shortlisted candidates will be called for further selection rounds, namely, Group Discussion (GD) or Writing Ability Test (WAT) or both and Personal Interview (PI) rounds for the final admission. Additionally, the newly formed IIMs will administer the Common Admission Process (CAP) where the shortlisted aspirants from all participating IIMs need to appear for WAT and PI rounds.

IIM Calcutta has formulated the CAT 2018 eligibility criteria. As per the official eligibility criteria of CAT 2018, a candidate should meet the following parameters-

• Obtain a Bachelor’s degree in any discipline with minimum 50 per cent marks or equivalent CGPA from a recognised university or educational institute.
• The reserved category candidates, such as Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Persons with Disability (PWD), should secure minimum 45 percentage in Bachelor’s Degree in any discipline from a recognised university or educational institute.
• The final year students of Bachelor’s degree/equivalent qualification exam and those who have completed degree course and are awaiting results can apply for CAT 2018 as well.
• Aspirants with any professional degree with requisite percentage of marks will be eligible to appear for the exam.
• Age Limit: There is no limit pertaining to age for appearing in CAT.

Mode of Application : Online

Mode of Payment : Net Banking | Credit Card | Debit Card | NEFT | Paytm | Other

Application Fees

IIM Calcutta had opened the online application process of CAT 2018 from August 8 to September 26 (11:59 PM). The application was a three-step process, CAT registration, filling the application form, and paying the application fee. Post registration, candidates receive a User ID and Password on their registered email and mobile number which was to be used to login to the official website to fill the CAT application form 2018. Candidates needed to select four exam centres as per their convenience.

CAT 2018 application fee- The application fee could be paid through net banking, debit card, credit card, BillDesk, PayU and Paytm.

  CAT Registration/Application Fee                                                                              

Perseverance, strategic planning and execution clubbed with positivity pave the path towards success in the most coveted entrance exam, CAT. Candidates would need to start preparing at least 6-8 months prior to the exam to yield the best results. 

Thorough knowledge of the CAT 2018 Syllabus along with the concepts should be the primary focus for all the aspiring test takers followed by practice of previous years' question papers and sample papers. Candidates are advised to take as many timed mock tests as possible to enhance their proficiency. Apart from academic preparation, one should be cautious about their health as well. Staying fit and positive is immensely important until the exam day.

As per the CAT 2018 exam pattern, the computer-based test had three timed sections (VARC, DILR, and QA) carrying a total of 100 questions. The types of questions are both MCQ as well as Non-MCQ questions. Following were the three CAT sections including the sectional durations and marks allotted-    

CAT Exam Pattern 2018                   

On October 17, 2018, IIM Calcutta had released the official mock test of CAT 2018. The mock test or the practice test was released to explain the exam format, pattern as well as the marking scheme and the navigation system to the prospective test takers.

The total duration of CAT mock test 2018 is 1 hour and it included the following-

• Exam instructions
• Mock questions pertaining to each section (VARC, DI & LR, and QA)

Indian Institute of Management Calcutta issued the online CAT 2018 admit card on October 24. It comprised of candidates' personal and test venue details along with exam day guidelines. It was a mandate for all candidates to carry their CAT admit card 2018 on the day of the exam. 

The admit card of CAT 2018 was available only online. Candidates needed to download the admit card from the official website using their login credentials (user ID and password) and take prints of the same for the exam day, i.e. November 25, 2018.

IIM Calcutta has released the answer key of CAT 2018 on December 7, 2018. The answer key consists of CAT 2018 questions along with the correct answers marked in Green colour. The CAT 2018 answer key is available for download on the official website of the exam. The document is available for all the test takers. Candidates who appeared for the exam on November 25 can login to the official website to download the pdf file of the answer key.

Test takers are permitted to file an objection if they find any discrepancy in the CAT answer key 2018. The objection filling can be done till December 10, 2018, by paying a fee of Rs. 1200. Last year, the fee for filing objection was Rs. 1000.

The result of CAT 2018 has been released by IIM Calcutta on January 5, 2019, at 10 AM. The CAT 2018 result has been made available in online mode only. Based on the result, test-takers will be shortlisted for further selection rounds by respective IIMs and other CAT 2018 participating institutes.  

For downloading the result of CAT 2018, candidates need to insert their login credentials created during registration (User ID and Password). The CAT 2018 scorecard reflects the sectional and overall scores and percentiles obtained by the examinee.

The minimum marks or percentile any test taker must secure in order to qualify for further selection rounds is called the CAT cutoff marks/scores. All the IIMs and other participating institutes will release the CAT 2018 cutoff to shortlist the candidates for the selection procedure.

The factors that affect the cutoff of CAT 2018 are-

•    The total number of CAT 2018 test takers 
•    The level of difficulty of the exam
•    Number of test takers qualifying for the next rounds 
•    The total number of seats 
•    Institute of repute or ranking.

The selection procedure of CAT 2018 is a two-step process followed by all the IIMs and other CAT score accepting management institutes. Candidates will first have to appear for CAT 2018. Based on the performance of the test, examinees will be shortlisted for the second CAT selection process. All shortlisted candidates will be called for Group Discussion (GD), Writing Ability Test (WAT), and Personal Interview (PI). The participating institutes and IIMs will render some weightage to each mentioned factor as per their respective admission processes before finalising the students for admissions to management programmes.